I'm a patient attendant and I'm only five days in but yesterday I sat with a Suicidal patient I wasn't ready for this as I'm pretty new to the job. I'm pretty upset since I didn't know he was suicidal I thought he was general precautions, that's what they told me anyways.
So usually they inform me about the status of the patient so I'm better prepared when watching them. Usually with general precautions I'd do my homework or read magazines. I thought the same was for this case, the nurses even told me to just watch him outside his room and can even ignore him, that's what I did in the beginning because I was honestly scared, I wasn't ready to be dealing with someone in his situation. I didn't even realize he was suicidal until the end of he day when I called the company I worked for and they informed me.
I'm annoyed because of how easily things could have gone wrong, and they did. I was outside his door watching him reading a magazine and he managed to rip out his iv...I didn't even know he had one in and the nurse left the lights off on him when they left also they didn't care when kept thrashing around on his bed so I just thought nothing of it but he managed to rip out his IV and blood was everywhere, like there was a pool of blood I didn't notice until the nurse took notice of it when he stopped by. It was than that I decided to sit inside even though the nurses advised me not to and decided to engage with him even though he was so abrasive before and even racist. He was constantly calling the nurses ******* and berating them.
At the end of the day things turned out fine and he got better, he managed to keep conversation going and got better.
But should I report the mix up to the company that contracted me?
(with this company in the first thirty days you only handle general precautions not suicidal patients)
When I called the scheduling team and complained about this they apologized and told me his status randomly changed and they weren't aware When I entered he was in restraints so I'm surprised he was ever general precautions.
The whole situation left me with a bad taste in my month :/
I just wasn't prepared to deal with a patient this distraught and I'm annoyed how his safety was compromised
Oh, forgot a point earlier: if the nurse actually told you he was evil and to ignore him, I suspect that she meant not to take his vile behavior personally. Yes, some people are vile. I am sure she did not mean: "don't do your job and let him rip out his IV."
I completely agree, that why they called in a sitter to watch him.
I'm sorry but people's conditions change in the hospital. As a sitter regardless of how many days you have been doing it the job title clearly says what you are to this patient. A sitter is there to keep the patient safe. Most if not all patients have IV's so while you were reading or doing homework they pulled it out. I would focus more on fulfilling the job requirements and less on reporting people.
As others have said I think you should take a good hard look at YOUR actions before you even consider reporting anyone. You were reading magazines, you disregarded the nurses orders, the patient ripped his IV out under your watch, etc. And I don't believe for one minute the report you claim you were given by the nurse.
In my humble opinion you're lucky you still have a job, luckier still that they apologized to you.
1:1 means eyes on the patient, 1:1 does not mean leisure time for the sitter.
I think everyone is misinterpreting the OP's question.
She isn't asking if she should write someone up or report to a regulatory agency or report to an omsbudsmen.
She asked if she should inform her employer of the mix-up.
She works for a company that is contracted by the hospital to provide sitters. Her employer has a policy that employees are not to sit for suicidal patients until they have worked 30 days.
She should notify her employer of the mix-up not to get someone in trouble but to give her manager a heads-up. Her employer may want to take steps to ensure that a new employee is not assigned a patient they are not ready to handle. At the same time OP should request training on what is expected of her when sitting with suicidal patients.
Here's an additional thought: most acute care facilities maintain a policy/procedure manual. Consider showing up 15 or 20 minutes early for your shift so you can actually read the facility policy ... then, regardless of what you may be told, you will know for sure what you need to be doing.
Sitting with a person on suicide precautions usually requires you to stay within arm's reach at all times. Other situations might have somewhat looser requirements.
"He's a terrible person, very evil and you should ignore him, also redirect him" I wasn't informed he was suicidal AT ALL or that he had an IV in....
Uh, I was taken back because it seems out of line to be calling a patient evil. However when I came near the door there was slew of nurses by the door watching him scream at them. He was in restraints yelling at the nurses, calling them things and they laughed it off....
They recommended I sit outside so I did just that, and it resulted in this dude almost dying...
Tbh, I learned a lot from that experience, I just wasn't prepared for handling a patient of this caliber five days in....
The dude didn't "almost die." No one is going to die from ripping out a peripheral IV. A peripheral IV is in a very small vein. It will bleed a little and then clot quickly. Even a PICC or central line pulled out won't cause major blood loss. Kids pull out their lines/tubes all the time. Most of of them don't have sitters unless there are other concerns.
And of course it's normal for a patient's status to "change quickly" in a hospital. I had a patient once when I was a staff nurse who was a regular (meaning frequent) patient admitted for chemo or progression of her brain tumor. She wasn't a 1:1/wasn't expressing any SI. Then she tried to strangle herself with the call light at shift change and bought herself a sitter. (Side note, at my hospital, any patient on suicide precautions was to have their sitter within arms reach AT ALL TIMES. They weren't even allowed to use the bathroom without the sitter going in with them.)
I have to take up for the sitter here. I'm assuming that "evil" patient was in hard behavioral restraints, not soft medical restraints. Those are rarely used unless the patient is a psych admit. If he was in restraints when the sitter got there, he was probably already on suicide (or some sort of psych) precautions.
Also, I've never worked anywhere where a suicidal patient with a sitter didn't have 15 minute flow sheets that had to be filled out by the sitter, documenting the behavior and btw, proving that the patient was being watched (for legal reasons in case the patient does manage to harm himself). If he was on suicide precautions, there should have been paperwork for that sitter with the reason written clearly on top (self harm, homicidal ideation, violent behavior, etc). And I myself have told sitters to stay in the hall where they could see the patient at all times. This was because some patients are violent and agitated when there is a sitter in their room. They are advised to call for help if the patient's behavior becomes an issue.
Lastly, I've worked at some hospitals where the sitter was allowed to read if the pt was sleeping. It's almost impossible to stay awake at night, in a dark, hot room, while a patient sleeps if the sitter has nothing to occupy their mind. And this I've seen it myself - When a psych patient acts out on a med/surg unit, everybody on the unit comes to "watch." So I absolutely believe the sitter when she says there was a crowd at the door, and improper remarks were made. It sounds like education for EVERYBODY is in order.
Specializes in primary care, holistic health, integrated medicine.
Nurses are expected to have very good, if not excellent critical thinking abilities. This means that they can think ahead, and in the abstract. The OP is a patient care attendant, and possibly a very "concrete" thinker. Meaning that what the person hears said, is what that person understands. There isn't much "outside the box" thinking. It is generally not expected. Nurses are leaders and the primary nurse should have provided explicit instructions, just as he/she would for a patient. The behavior of the nurses, if true, and I can see this happening, as I have in the past, shows a major lack of professionalism and leadership. Laughing at an "evil" suicidal patient is never okay. There is no compassion in this, and it is really not a nurse's place to make judgements like this. A person tied to a bed, "thrashing" is obviously not in a very pleasant situation. Having said all of that, hopefully the OP has learned from this: 1. Ask for a full report as needed to provide the services expected in the most complete, competent and safe manner possible. 2. Provide that service without fail. 3. Do not allow the lack of professionalism of others to influence one's own professionalism (although this person is NOT technically considered a "professional". 4. Ask questions if clarification is required.
Reporting the staff is never a good idea, but communicating with the agency regarding any needs for education/orientation and the lack of communication between the staff and the OP is warranted, not in a "finger pointing" manner, but as a method of improving future situations. If the communication is delivered in a manner that shows a quest for improvement, it should not be considered negative, I would hope. However, when personalities become involved, one can never really know. The only thing the OP has control over is his or her own behavior, as previously stated.
Well, mistakes happen. I wasn't suppose to be dealing with a suicidal patient I thought he was general precautions. I did my homework within the same room with the previous patients I sat and nothing happened.
Well, mistakes happen. I wasn't suppose to be dealing with a suicidal patient I thought he was general precautions. I did my homework within the same room with the previous patients I sat and nothing happened.
Ugh, I'm so traumatized and feel terrible.....
Murphy's Law is an excellent guide, especially for folks who are new to this field: if something can go wrong, eventually it will. Every situation is different ... best to stay on your toes even (or especially) when it seems routine.
nursebeth77, ASN
25 Posts
I completely agree, that why they called in a sitter to watch him.